An Evangelical Christian Perspective

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Quotes from the Second Century

Abercius (c. 120 AD)

“My name is Abercius. I am a disciple of the holy shepherd who feeds his flocks on the mountains and the plains. His eyes are large and everything comes within the range of his vision.”

Aristides of Athens (c. 140 AD)

“If there is a man among them who is poor and in need, and they have not an abundance of what is needed, they fast for two or three days so that they supply the needy with their necessary food.”

“I have no doubt that the world stands because of the prayer of Christians.”

Blandina (slavegirl, martyred 177 AD)

“I am a Christian; we do nothing to be ashamed of.”

Shepherd of Hermas (c. 130 AD)

“Those who are rich in this world cannot be made useful to the Lord unless their riches have been cut out of them.”

Ignatius of Antioch (d. 107 AD)

”Meet together in common— every single one of you— in grace, in one faith and one Jesus Christ.”

“For when you meet together frequently the forces of Satan are annulled and his destructive power is cancelled in the concord of your faith.”

“I am God’s wheat, and I am being ground by the teeth of the beasts so that I may appear as pure bread.”

Irenaeus (130-202 AD)

“The glory of God is man fully alive; and the life of man consists in beholding God.”

“In the beginning God created fashioned Adam, not because he had the need of human beings, but so that he might have beings on whom to bestow his benefits.”

“Breaking one bread, which is the medicine of immortality, the antidote against death which gives eternal life in Jesus Christ.”

Justin Martyr (100-165 AD)

“The master who taught us this worship, and who was born to this end, was crucified under Pontius Pillate in the reign of Tiberius Caesar.”

“At the end of the prayers we embrace each other with a kiss.”

“To yield and give way to our passions is the lowest slavery, even as to rule over them is the only liberty.”

“Let it be understood that those who are not found living as He taught are not Christian- even though they profess with the lips the teaching of Christ.”

Polycarp (69-155 AD)

“I have greatly rejoiced with you in our Lord Jesus Christ, because ye have followed the example of true love [as displayed by God], and have accompanied, as became you, those who were bound in chains, the fitting ornaments of saints, and which are indeed the diadems of the true elect of God and our Lord. “

” For eighty and six years have I been his [Christ’s] servant, and he has done me no wrong, and how can I blaspheme my king who saved me?”